Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Nearly 50,000 flee rumbling Bali volcano

Australian tourists have been told to visit Bali but stay away from Mount Agung with concerns an eruption is imminent.

Balinese officials are now fearing for the worst with almost 50,000 locals evacuated from the area surrounding the mountain.

Experts say the magma is now about two kilometres from the surface but they are unable to predict when Mount Agung may erupt. In the past several days there have been hundreds of tremors and the frequency of earthquakes is also increasing.

Those travelling to Bali have been told to stay away from the Mt Agung area which is about 75km from tourist hot spot Kuta.

Flights are still running to schedule however some airlines are warning of delays. Virgin has said it will now include a fuel stop in Darwin on certain flights as a precaution in case the volcano erupts during a flight.

Residents stay at a temporary shelter as they evacuate following increasing seismic activity of Mount Agung in Karangasem, Bali. (AAP)Residents stay at a temporary shelter as they evacuate from a dangerous area. (AAP)

About 60,000 people live in the danger zone, but some don't want to evacuate, fearing for their properties and livestock.

"There are still people who don't want to be evacuated," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the disaster mitigation agency, said at a press conference.

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"The reason is firstly, the mountain hasn't erupted yet. Secondly, they are worried about their livestock."

Officials announced the highest possible alert level on Friday, and urged people to stay at least nine kilometres away from the crater.

Evacuees have packed into temporary shelters or moved in with relatives while some 2000 cows have been also evacuated from the flanks of the volcano.

Nengah Satiya, who left home with his wife three days ago, said he had been returning to the danger zone to tend to his pigs and chickens.

"There are many livestock in our village but nobody is taking them," Nengah Satiya said.

"We take turns going back to feed them.”

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, through which millions of foreign tourists pass every year, has not been affected.

Last year more than two dozen domestic and international flights to Bali's neighbouring resort island Lombok were cancelled due to a drifting ash cloud from erupting Mount Rinjani.

Bali officials said the island was still generally safe but urged tourists to stay away from tourism spots located within the danger zone.

Pura Besakih temple, one of Bali's most prominent temples which is located just a few kilometres away from the mountain's slopes, has been closed to visitors since Saturday.

The Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said the tremors had grown more powerful yesterday.

"The mountain has not erupted until now. The earthquakes are happening less frequently but the magnitude is getting stronger," Gede Suantika, a senior volcanologist at the agency said.

Indonesia is home to around 130 volcanoes due to its position on the "Ring of Fire", a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.

The volcano agency's chief Kasbani said Mount Agung had a history of major eruptions that eclipsed recent episodes in Indonesia, including the 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi in Central Java that claimed at least 350 lives.

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed more than 1,000 people and devastated many villages.

The 2010 Merapi eruption, which also forced hundreds of thousands of villagers to flee, was that mountain's biggest since 1872. However, it was 10 times smaller than Mount Agung's 1963 eruption.

"We hope this time it will not be that big, but we need to be prepared for the worst case scenario and prioritise vigilance," Kasbani told Metro TV.